Serena's losses in major finals highlight top stories of '19

Serena Williams, playing at Indian Wells in March, lost two more Grand Slam
finals in straight sets to remain one major title short of Margaret Court's record
of 24. Photo by Harjanto Sumali

   The wait continues for Serena Williams.
   The part-time Silicon Valley resident, who turned 38 in September, went 0-2 in Grand Slam singles finals in 2019 to remain one major singles title short of Margaret Court's record of 24.
   Williams, who won eight consecutive Grand Slam finals from 2012 to 2015, is 0-4 in them since capturing the Australian Open title in January 2017. Each loss has been in straight sets.
   Williams had her first child on Sept. 1, 2017, and suffered life-threatening complications. Since then, injuries – and nerves – have slowed Williams.
   Here are the top 10 stories in Northern California tennis in 2019 and 10 honorable mentions:
   1. Andreescu upsets Serena for U.S. Open title – One year after 20-year-old Naomi Osaka stunned Williams in a tumultuous final in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., 19-year-old Bianca Andreescu triumphed 6-3, 7-5 in front of a staunchly pro-Williams crowd at 23,771-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium.
   The hart-hitting Andreescu, seeded 15th, showed no sign of nerves in her first major final until trying to close out the match. The daughter of Romanian immigrants, she became the first Canadian, male or female, to win a Grand Slam singles title.
   2. Halep routs Serena for first Wimbledon crown – Playing the match of her life, Simona Halep routed a nervous Williams 6-2, 6-2 in 56 minutes for her second major singles title and first at Wimbledon.
   Halep, playing great defense, committed only three unforced errors to Williams' 26 and won 83 percent of the points on her first serve (29 of 35) to Williams' 59 percent (19 of 32).
   3. Serena voted AP Female Athlete of Decade – Williams, who won a dozen Grand Slam singles titles in the 2010s, was voted The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Decade. No other woman won more than three Slams during that time.
   Williams was ranked No. 1 for 3 1/2 years in a row, equaling Steffi Graf's record for most consecutive weeks atop the rankings.

As an 18-year-old wild card in qualifying, Jenson Brooksby
shocked Tomas Berdych, the Wimbledon runner-up in 2010,
in the first round of the U.S. Open. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman

   4. Brooksby stuns Berdych in U.S. Open – Jenson Brooksby, an 18-year-old qualifier from the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael, shocked 33-year-old Tomas Berdych, the Wimbledon runner-up in 2010, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the U.S. Open.
   Brooksby became only the second qualifying wild card to win a men's main-draw match in the U.S. Open, joining Stanford graduate Bradley Klahn.
   5. Bellis returns from 19-month layoff – Qualifier CiCi Bellis reached the third round of the $162,480 Houston Challenger in her first tournament in 19 months.
   The 20-year-old San Francisco Bay Area product rebounded from three operations on her right wrist and one on her right elbow. She was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2017 after climbing as high as No. 35.
   6. Gibbs reaches final in return from cancer surgery – Nicole Gibbs (Stanford, 2011-13) advanced to the final of the $60,000 Honolulu Challenger only two months after having surgery for a rare cancer in the roof of her mouth.
   Gibbs lost to fellow American Usue Arconada 6-0, 6-2 one day after topping Caroline Dolehide 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-4 in 2 hours, 41 minutes.
   7. Bryans to retire after 2020 U.S. Open – Former Stanford stars Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, generally considered the greatest doubles team in history, announced that they will retire after the 2020 U.S. Open.
   The 41-year-old identical twins have won a record 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles, an Open Era-record 118 trophies (including four in the ATP Finals) and an Olympic gold medal (2012 London). They also helped the United States win its last Davis Cup championship, in 2007.
   8. Ma leads U.S. to Junior Fed Cup title – Connie Ma, 16, of Dublin in the Bay Area led the United States to a 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic in the Junior Fed Cup final in Orlando, Fla.
   It was the third consecutive Junior Fed Cup title for the Americans and second straight for Ma. She played on last year's team, but not in the final against Ukraine.
   9. Stanford women rout Georgia for 20th NCAA crown – The No. 3 Cardinal routed No. 1 Georgia 4-0 in Orlando for its second consecutive NCAA crown, third in four years and 20th overall.
   Stanford coach Lele Forood matched her predecessor, Frank Brennan, with 10 NCAA titles. No other school approaches the Cardinal's total. Florida ranks second with seven titles, and Georgia is tied for third with three other schools at two.

Katie Volynets poses after winning the girls 18 singles
title in the USTA National Championships in San Diego.
Photo courtesy of JFS Communications

   10. Volynets wins USTA Girls 18 Nationals – Second-seeded Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area beat third-seeded Emma Navarro of Charleston, S.C., 6-2, 6-4 to win the girls 18 singles title in the USTA Billie Jean King Girls National Championships in San Diego.
   Volynets became the third Northern Californian to win a USTA 18 hardcourt national singles title in six years, joining Collin Altamirano (2013) of Sacramento and Brooksby (2018). All train under Joseph Gilbert at the Arden Hills Athletic & Social Club in Sacramento.
   Honorable mention – Kristie Ahn, a 27-year-old Stanford graduate, defeated 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 7-5 to reach the round of 16 in the U.S. Open. Ahn had never won a main-draw match in a Grand Slam tournament before that week.
   –Unseeded Zheng Saisai of China knocked off four consecutive seeds in the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., and won her first WTA singles title. In the final, she toppled Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka, ranked 10th and seeded second, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
   –After trailing 6-1, 5-2, seventh seed and 2018 runner-up Maria Sakkari of Greece saved four match points in a 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over top-seeded Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals of the Silicon Valley Classic.
   –Saving seven championship points, second-seeded Luke Casper of Santa Cruz, Calif., outlasted top-seeded Samir Banerjee of Basking Ridge, N.J., 3-6, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (6) to win the USTA Boys 16 National Clay Court Championships in Delray Beach, Fla.

Pam Shriver speaks at the Sutter Lawn Tennis
Club's 100th-anniversary celebration in Sacra-
mento, Calif. Photo by Paul Bauman

   –In the doubles semifinals of the $108,320 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger, Alex Lawson was defaulted for swatting a ball into the seats during a match tiebreaker. The ball struck a middle-aged man in the back, but he was not hurt.

   –Ahn, seeded sixth, flung her racket high into crowd during her 6-1, 6-3 loss to top-seeded Madison Brengle in the semifinals of the $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Tennis Club Women's Challenge. No one was injured, but Ahn later was fined an undisclosed amount of up to $500.
   –Bob Bryan returned from hip surgery in the Brisbane International at the beginning of the year, losing in the first round with Mike Bryan to Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Milos Raonic of Canada 3-6, 6-4 (10-7).
   –Pam Shriver, an International Tennis Hall of Famer and ESPN commentator, emceed the Sutter Lawn Tennis Club's 100th-anniversary celebration in Sacramento, Calif.
   –Volynets, who will celebrate her 18th birthday on Tuesday, turned pro.
   –Top-seeded Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose and Sarah Hamner of Fort Collins, Colo., won the girls 16 doubles title in the Eddie Herr International in Bradenton, Fla.

Serena voted AP Female Athlete of Decade

   Serena Williams, a part-time Silicon Valley resident, was selected as the Female Athlete of the Decade by The Associated Press on Saturday.
   Williams, 38, won a dozen Grand Slam singles titles during the decade – no other woman won more than three – and was ranked No. 1 for 3 1/2 years in a row, equaling Steffi Graf's record for most consecutive weeks atop the rankings.
   Finishing second in voting by sports editors and beat writers was gymnast Simone Biles, the 2019 AP Female Athlete of the Year. Following Biles were swimmer Katie Ledecky and skiers Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin.
  NBA star LeBron James was chosen as the AP Male Athlete of the Decade today, easily beating out runner-up Tom Brady of the New England Patriots. Trailing Brady were sprinter Usain Bolt, soccer star Lionel Messi and swimmer Michael Phelps.

Volynets turns pro; Brooksby to enroll at Baylor

Katie Volynets poses after winning the USTA Girls 18
National Championships in San Diego in August. Photo
courtesy of JFS Communications

   Katie Volynets and Jenson Brooksby are Northern California teenagers who have won the USTA 18 National Championships.
   Both played in the singles main draw of the U.S. Open this year, with Brooksby reaching the second round.
   Both train under Joseph Gilbert at the Arden Hills Athletic & Social Club in Sacramento, Calif., although Volynets lives 80 miles (128.8 kilometers) away in Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area.
   However, Volynets has turned pro, while Brooksby will enroll at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, next month as planned.
   Volynets, who will turn 18 on Tuesday, won the USTA national title in August in San Diego to earn an automatic wild card into the U.S. Open. She lost to eventual champion Bianca Andreescu 6-2, 6-4 in the first round.
   In Volynets' last two tournaments of the year, she reached the final and semifinals of $25,000 events in the United States in November to propel her to No. 394 in the world.

Jenson Brooksby reached the second round
of the U.S. Open. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman

   Brooksby, a 19-year-old resident of Carmichael

in the Sacramento area, took the USTA national crown in 2018.
   This year, Brooksby won three qualifying matches to advance to the main draw of the U.S. Open. He shocked former Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych in the opening round before losing to Nikoloz Basilashvili, seeded 17th and ranked 18th, in four sets. Brooksby came within a tiebreaker of leading Basilashvili two sets to none.

   Earlier in the summer, Brooksby won singles titles in $25,000 U.S. tournaments in two consecutive weeks. He is ranked No. 269.
   The match against Brooksby turned out to be the last of Berdych's career, in which he peaked at No. 4 and amassed almost $30 million in prize money. The Czech announced his retirement at age 34 in November after missing most of the previous 16 months because of a back injury.

Murray voted ATP Comeback Player of Year

Andy Murray rebounded from his second hip operation to win
a doubles title in his first tournament back and a singles crown
in October. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Andy Murray, who won the first two of his 46 tour-level singles titles in San Jose, Calif., was voted by fellow players as the ATP Comeback Player of the Year.
   Other award winners announced Thursday were Rafael Nadal (year-end No. 1 singles player), Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah (year-end No. 1 doubles team), Matteo Berrettini (Most Improved Player) and Jannik Sinner (Newcomer of the Year).
   Murray announced on Jan. 10 that he would retire after Wimbledon at the latest because of chronic hip pain. He had surgery on his right hip for the second time on Jan. 28 but returned to the tour in doubles in June, one month after his 32nd birthday.
   In Murray's first tournament back, he won the doubles title with Feliciano Lopez in the Fever-Tree Championships in London. Murray also won the singles crown in the European Open in Antwerp in October.
   Murray went 10-0 in singles in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose, winning the crown in 2006 at 18 years old and the following year. He also won the Challenger in Aptos, Calif., a 45-minute drive south of San Jose, in 2005 at 18.
   Nadal, 33, became the oldest player to finish as the year-end No. 1 in the history of the ATP rankings. He took home four singles trophies this year, including his 12th in the French Open and fourth in the U.S. Open.
   With his Roland Garros crown, Nadal broke Margaret Court's record of 11 Australian Open singles titles, seven of which came when only amateurs were allowed to play.
   By winning the U.S. Open, Nadal pulled within one of Roger Federer's record of 20 Grand Slam men's singles titles.
   Cabal, 33, and Farah, 32, of Colombia won their first two Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. They became the second all-South American team to finish as the year-end No. 1 doubles team, following Hans Gildemeister of Chile and Andres Gomez of Ecuador in 1986.
   Farah reached the singles final in the 2012 Aptos Challenger, losing to former USC teammate Steve Johnson.
   Berrettini, a 23-year-old Italian, climbed from No. 54 to No. 8 in the 2018 and 2019 year-end rankings, respectively. He advanced to his first Grand Slam semifinal in the U.S. Open.
   Berrettini's countryman, 18-year-old Sinner, skyrocketed from No. 763 at the end of 2018 to No. 78 currently. He is the youngest player in the year-end top 80 since Nadal finished No. 47 at age 17 in 2003.
   Sinner lost in the second round of the $81,240 Aptos Challenger in August the week after winning the $54,160 Lexington (Ky.) Challenger.

Mayo, Hashimoto fall in Orange Bowl doubles finals

   Northern California came up empty in two Orange Bowl finals today in Plantation, Fla.
   In boys 18 doubles, third-seeded Mikolaj Lorens of Poland and Shunsuke Mitsui of Japan beat unseeded Lorenzo Claverie of Venezuela and Aidan Mayo of Roseville in the Sacramento, Calif., area 6-4, 6-4.
   In boys 16 doubles, top-seeded Daniel Rincon of Spain and Abedallah Shelbayh of Jordan dominated fifth-seeded Ozan Colak of Okemos, Mich., and Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose, Calif., 6-1, 6-2.
   Earlier today, Claverie and Mayo, 16, edged top-seeded Dali Blanch of Deerfield Beach, Fla., and Thiago Augustin Tirante of Argentina 2-6, 6-4 [12-10] in the semifinals.
  The Orange Bowl was founded by Eddie Herr in 1947. It was played on clay until 1998, then on hardcourts until 2011. It has been contested on clay again since then.
   Past winners of the Orange Bowl 18s include International Tennis Hall of Famers Chris Evert (1969-70), Bjorn Borg (1972), John McEnroe (1976), Ivan Lendl (1977), Gabriela Sabatini (1984) and Jim Courier (1987).
   Winners of the tournament on hardcourts include Roger Federer (1998), Andy Roddick (1999), Marcos Baghdatis (2003) and Caroline Wozniacki (2005).

Hashimoto reaches Orange Bowl boys 16 doubles final

   Fifth-seeded Ozan Colak of Okemos, Mich., and Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose, Calif., trounced unseeded Marc Othman Ktiri of Spain and Brayden Michna of Taylor, Texas, 6-2, 6-1 today to reach the Orange Bowl boys 16 doubles final in Plantation, Fla.
   Colak and Hashimoto will face top-seeded Daniel Rincon of Spain and Abedallah Shelbayh of Jordan.
   Meanwhile, unseeded Lorenzo Claverie of Venezuela and Aidan Mayo of Roseville in the Sacramento, Calif., area edged fifth-seeded Arthur Fery and Felix Gill of Great Britain 6-4, 2-6 [12-10] in the boys 18 quarterfinals.
   Claverie and Mayo, 16, will meet top-seeded Dali Blanch of Deerfield Beach, Fla., and Thiago Augustin Tirante of Argentina.

Ovrootsky loses in Orange Bowl girls 16 quarters

   No. 10 seed Victoria Mboko of Canada outlasted No. 13 seed Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose, Calif., 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 today in the girls 16 quarterfinals of the Orange Bowl in Plantation, Fla.
   Ovrootsky also fell in the quarters of last week's Eddie Herr International in Bradenton, Fla. She won the doubles title with Sarah Hamner of Fort Collins, Colo.
   Meanwhile, Northern Californians Aidan Mayo and Hugo Hashimoto advanced in boys doubles in the Orange Bowl.
   Unseeded Lorenzo Claverie of Venezuela and Mayo, 16, of Roseville in the Sacramento area, upended fourth-seeded Eliakim Coulibaly of the Ivory Coast and Lukas Neumayer of Austria 6-4, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals in the 18s.
   Fifth-seeded Ozan Colak of Okemos, Mich., and Hashimoto edged fourth-seeded Gonzalo Bueno of Peru and Francisco Lamas Villarroel of Venezuela 7-5, 4-6 [10-4] in the quarters of the 16s.
   The Orange Bowl was founded by Eddie Herr in 1947. It was played on clay until 1998, then on hardcourts until 2011. It has been contested on clay again since then.
   Past winners of the Orange Bowl 18s include Chris Evert (1969-70), Bjorn Borg (1972), John McEnroe (1976), Ivan Lendl (1977), Gabriela Sabatini (1984), Mary Joe Fernandez (1985), Jim Courier (1987) and Anna Kournikova (1995).
   Winners of the tournament on hardcourts include Roger Federer (1998), Elena Dementieva (1998), Andy Roddick (1999), Vera Zvonareva (2000-01), Marcos Baghdatis (2003) and Caroline Wozniacki (2005).